Radioactive
by Aileen Autarkeia
Summary: Trapped, with no way out, they must wait patiently for rescue. Their help comes in the most unlikely of forms. Inspired by 'Radioactive' by Imagine Dragons.


So... yeah. I need to quit writing other stories besides the sequels to some of the stories I've posted.

This is inspired by the music video for Radioactive, by Imagine Dragons. It is a oneshot and I have no plans of expanding it.

I hope you enjoy the story.

(0)^_^(0)

There were snarls coming from overhead. A trapdoor opened in the ceiling, and a small dog was caught by two pairs of hands.

"We'll never get out," one voice whispered hopelessly.

"If we could just reach the suits, we could escape very quickly," a man groused angrily.

"But we can't, Stark. None of us can make it through the bars," a woman snapped.

"We'll just have to wait."

(0)^_^(0)

She stared at the rickety shed, far down the dirt road. Her blue hood was up, obscuring her face, but a few strands of chestnut brown hair escaped and floated in the wind.

Grey eyes focused on the door and she slowly began walking towards it. The cage in her hand remained steady, even though she moved quite quickly.

She paused over a patch of ground and jumped twice on it, tamping the grass down.

Down below, the six captives looked upward as the ceiling shook a little ways away from the hole.

They moved towards it and stopped underneath.

The ceiling shook once again, three times.

"Another challenger," one man said quietly. "Let's hope this isn't like the last one."

The girl stood up again and picked up the cage, moving steadily towards the building. She carefully pushed the heavy door open and was immediately assaulted by sounds.

Shouts of glee filled the air as men threw money into a small, rickety wooden ring. She could hear angry snarls, and her hair rose even more. Anger flooded her veins as she set the cage down.

Dog fighting was entirely illegal in this part of the country, but it didn't stop people from doing it anyways. This one was particularly notorious, mostly for the champion dog that inhabited it.

She pulled the cover off the cage to reveal a small terrier, with a long tail and floppy ears. It held all the hallmarks of a street dog- raggedy ear, some pinkish scar tissue here and there.

She opened the door to the cage and the dog daintily stepped out. They had about 3 challengers in front of them, and took a bit of time to stare at the board, covered in chalk marks- all for the champion, none for the challenger.

A yell of glee filled the air and she turned to see the head honcho himself sitting on a throne-like chair, with a lever next to him. She knew the lever opened a trapdoor, leading to a cellar where the dogs who lost and a few very important captives were kept.

She turned just in time to see two chalk marks put under the champion's register. Her lip curled disdainfully; and then it was her turn.

She led the small dog forward, and gently picked him up and put him in the ring. He was facing off against an enormous German Shepherd, with a huge set of teeth and some powerful claws. She wasn't worried, though. He'd do fine.

The bell rung, and immediately the big dog rushed her own. Hers skipped out of the way easily, but the big dog had anticipated the move and whirled to catch it.

It was flung into one of the walls, and she bit her lip. The dog barked viciously at her own, as hers slowly clambered to its four paws.

The grey eyes of the girl met her dog's eyes, and almost immediately the dog bowed its head.

Taking this to mean defeat, the other dog rushed it.

In a split second her dog tripled in size, turned ink black, and snarled angrily at the Shepherd. A small smile crossed her face, and the Shepherd backed away nervously.

Dead silence fell.

The betting men were staring in awe at the dog, hands still in the air and jaws on the ground. They twisted to see what the head honcho would do.

The man's jaw was dropped as well, as she stepped into the ring with her dog and placed a gentle hand on its head. Then he angrily gestured for the men to capture the girl and her dog.

She moved out of the way as the dog growled angrily and snapped at the two men trying to grab her. They almost fell over the barrier in their haste to get away, and she smiled a tiny bit.

The other men quickly started running for the door, and the dog started to herd the main dogfighter to the trapdoor. She slowly walked forward and reached out a pale hand.

Her fingers wrapped around the key that was dangling around his neck, and pulled hard. The cord snapped easily, and the girl stepped back, as the dog pulled the lever which dropped the man into the cellar.

She gently healed the German Shepherd, which whimpered sadly as her power flowed through it, breaking years of habits. The wolf-dog shrunk back down to normal size, and she led them to the staircase into the cellar.

The six were standing at the doorway to the cellar as she reached it. The two dogs carefully twined through her feet as she slid the key in and unlocked the door with a quick twist of her wrist.

"Thank you, darling," a charming voice said as a man with short hair stepped out.

She smirked as the others stepped out and inclined her head. They cleared out and headed for their suits, pulling them back on over their civilian clothes and making for the staircase.

They turned around before they went upstairs, to see the girl surrounded with the dogs they had saved. They were a squirming, writhing mass around her as she spoke in a language none of them knew, soothing the excitement.

"Thank you."

Her voice was clear and calm, gentle, and filled with the sound of a hundred wolves baying at the moon on a clear winter's eve.

"You did the work, miss," one man said softly.

"My subjects thank you," she corrected herself, and she glanced behind herself as she heard a scream of panic.

A soft whistle echoed from her lips, and more dogs joined her pack.

"Go on, now. I must lock him away, forevermore," she instructed them.

Her dog calmly looked at them, and they would all swear it smiled smugly at them later. But they heeded her warning and quickly scrambled up the staircase and out into the evening air.


End file.
